"... I was going to shoot a close-up of Vader where you could see the inside of his face, but then we said, no, no, it would destroy the mystique of the whole thing."
That's how I felt about the prequels when they first came out. I remember thinking at the time that I would've preferred to leave Vader's backstory to the imagination. I've gotten used to the prequels now, though, and I find myself wanting to know Snoke's backstory, so ... take from that what you will, I guess.
On a side note, I've thought about the way Luke is portrayed in TLJ, and as someone who has suffered from depression, I can only say that, given the circumstances, I don't think Luke's behavior is really that incomprehensible (or out of character). For one thing, he's no longer the spunky youngster he was in the OT. For another, he'd allowed himself to believe he was as infallible as the stories made him out to be, so when his world literally came crashing down around him, it would've been devastating. And because he not only cut himself off from the Force but also from everyone who cared about him by running away and hiding, he had no one to bring him out of that depressing sphere he'd put himself in. No Han to talk him out of it, no Leia to kick some sense into him, no Yoda to make fun of him ... I know what it's like to be all alone with just the thoughts in your own head.
It's not at all surprising to me that when Rey finds Luke, he's a defeated man who just wants to die. I've been there. And I don't think it takes him "too long" to claw his way out of that pit.
Also, once he reconnects with the Force again, he can see into the future. How do we know he didn't see that appearing on Crait would be the most efficient way to help the Resistance? What difference could he have made by appearing as a Force projection in Snoke's throne room? How could he have saved more people when the Resistance was still out in space?
Honestly, having seen this movie three times now, I would have to say that it's biggest flaw is not the way it portrays Luke. It's the way it portrays Leia, and I'm not just talking about the ridiculous flying through space bit.* She's fought the good fight all her life, without ever giving up hope, and where does it get her? Instead of going out with a bang like Luke, she's just going to fade away, her star dimming as Poe's rises to take its place.
*The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. Despite being blown out of the bridge, she appears to be floating without moving when she revives ... yet, if that were to be the case, then the
Raddus would've had to have come to a complete stop as well, otherwise it would've left her far, far behind since it's supposedly traveling at full sub-light throttle. Yes, she was moving along with the
Raddus when she got sucked out, so perhaps she was just continuing to move at the same speed as her ship? But then the explosive decompression had to have accelerated her movement, so shouldn't she be moving *faster* than the
Raddus? I dunno. It does my head in ...
The more I think about it, the more references I see. Moff Tarkin tells Vader that he's the last of his religion, strongly implying that there are others out there.
There are plenty of references to other religions and spiritual philosophies in the EU, and Disney's been sneaking a few into the movies and cartoons, but the vast majority still seem to be centered around the Force in some form or another (eg. the Dathomiri witches' magic is just a weird way of using the Force). There's very little mention of deities in Star Wars lore.